There are always places that care for the environment and there are those that do not. And with the current environment in disarray, people seem to long for a place to live in that would be taking care of the environment better before it even gets worse than it is now. Living in the cities may not be the greatest idea for this, but is seems to be the next best thing.

The problem now is choosing which US cities offer more environmentally friendly measures to ensure that Mother Nature has a bit of a chance of improving. There are now several big US cities that try to brand themselves as cities with an ecological consciousness. Here are some of them.

Boston, Massachusetts

A large city comprised of 559,000 inhabitants, Boston is also popularly known as "America’s Walking City". The city has a large population and yet quite compact in size that makes it ideal for walking or biking. It is considered to be a city with the largest percentage of walking commuters in the US.

Boston is also known for its effective use of public transit and excellent use of land. One of Boston’s most innovative projects to help the environment so far includes the development of a facility that will help convert tons of discarded foliage in the city into energy and fertilizer. The project hopes to collect yard clippings from homes and then process them to create methane that will be good enough for creating 1.5 megawatt hours of power for the city.

Chicago, Illinois

A city composed of more than 2.8 million would seem an unlikely candidate for an eco-friendly city. But Chicago has done just that. This large city is turning green, thanks to about half a million new tress planted in recent years. And probably one of its most popular and innovative projects is the city’s Green Roof program. The city is on its way to developing more than 300 gardens and green roofs that covers about a total of four million square feet of space in several public and private buildings in the area.

Seattle, Washington

Seattle is one of the first cities in the US to adopt policies regarding environmental protection. The city is a pioneer in initiating mandatory recycling as well as making municipal vehicles use cleaner burning diesel engines. And with its implementation of renewable energy use as well as its carbon offset programs, the city-owned utility company is the first in the US to achieve reducing polluting emissions down to zero.

San Francisco, California

This city of 744,000 already had a plan to reduce their own ecological footprint more than ten years ago. And since then it has made San Francisco one of the leaders when it comes to eco-activism and green initiatives. One of the city’s more notable programs include the increased use of renewable energy, green cars as well as providing incentives for people as well as businesses following certain eco-friendly programs.

Portland, Oregon

This city is considered today as the foremost leader when it comes to green initiatives to help improve and take care of the environment. The policies initiated by the city span from having eco-friendly transportation programs, instituting green building as well as making energy and climate change policies to improve air and water quality in the city. The city has taken measures to protect farmland and open spaces by limiting the spread of new developments.